


Convalescence

by Zethsaire



Series: Can't Keep Me Down [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Asexual Derek, Canonical Child Abuse, Demisexual Isaac, Established Relationship, Evil Peter Hale, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Isaac Feels, M/M, Original Character(s), Other, Pack Dynamics, References to Abuse, Scent Marking, Scenting, Slow Build, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Wolf Pack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-17
Packaged: 2017-12-28 10:09:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zethsaire/pseuds/Zethsaire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to Raid.</p>
<p>Derek doesn't want to go back to Beacon Hills to reclaim his family's territory, but it's unavoidable.  His plan is to get in, claim his territory, and get out.  He doesn't expect to find a teenager who's just as lonely and miserable as he is, much less that he'll make them pack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by my lovely Dangerous Commie Subversive!! I've never written a fic in 3rd person present tense before, and she helped me keep that there grammar straight!!
> 
> For those of you who haven't read Raid: This is a canon divergent AU. Derek's family still dies, but Laura joins another pack, making Derek the Alpha. After a series of events, he ends up in San Francisco, and she's safe off with her pack. The events of the first 2 seasons of Teen Wolf are mostly the same, except Peter gained his power by killing another pack's alpha, and Peter and/or Gerard are driving the plot; Derek is not involved. Peter does not self resurrect. Sorry Peter fans!
> 
> This all happens before Raid, and thus before the canon Teen Wolf show. I also go into Derek's sexuality a bit more, as well as the otc's. Isaac's sexuality isn't really delved into, but he *is* demisexual.
> 
> Warnings this chapter: Angst. Lots and lots. Language. Depression (Derek)

“Why?” Derek grits out through his tightly clenched teeth.

“Why? Why do you have to take over your responsibilities as the Alpha of the Hale pack, man up, and keep your family's territory from falling into another pack's hands?” Rose asks archly, her hands on her hips, one holding a wooden mixing spoon. She was making pancakes for the many teens that called her house 'home,' and she looks like she's contemplating smacking him with it.

“Yes. That.”

This time, she does smack him, right upside the head. His eyes flash, and hers flash right back at him. Rose has been an Alpha a good deal longer than he has, and while she doesn't usually pull rank on him, she reserves the right to do so when he is being stupid. Apparently she's decided this was one of those times. 

He snarls to himself, irritated at the fact that a slim Asian woman, only 5'3” tall, is capable of intimidating him so effectively, but he can't deny the urge his wolf has to submit to her. They weren't even pack – just very close friends. If she was pack, he would submit to her in a second, but she isn't; he's an Alpha, and he is supposed to be able to take care of himself. Of course, if he had an actual pack to defend, he might not intimidate so easily, but that's the least of his problems.

That isn't to say that he doesn't respect Rose. He does. She'd lost everything when her pack had rejected her as their Alpha, just because she was a transgender woman. But she hadn't fallen to Omega – she'd packed her things, and moved to the Castro in San Francisco, started an LGBT magazine from scratch and building it into the most profitable werewolf magazine in the country. Then she'd met her mate, Ganner, who happened to be transgender himself, and they'd built an enormous house in Marin county where they took in werewolves or humans who had been affected by the supernatural and had nowhere else to go. There were anywhere between ten and twenty-five teenagers living at the house at any one time, and Ganner and Rose loved them all like the biological children they could never have. Many of the teenagers joined the pack formally when they turned 18. Others went off to start their own packs, or have successful careers of their own, but they still considered Rose their mother. She got literally stacks of cards every Mother's Day. Seeing it always makes Derek's heart ache.

Derek had been one of those teens. He and Laura had moved to New York after the fire, to try to start a new life. It didn't go well. Derek dropped out of school, and drifted from one manual labor job to another, unable to cope with life after he'd let the woman he'd been in love with kill his entire family. Laura had tried to make ends meet the best she could, but she was dealing with suddenly being an Alpha and trying to care for Derek, and having to make decisions like where her family would be buried and filing life insurance claims. She met another werewolf in the city and fell in love, and when he offered to mate her, Laura left Derek behind. He'd agreed to it, of course – he'd practically had to force her to mate the other wolf, and must have told her a hundred times that he'd be fine, don't worry about him.

He wasn't fine.

After inheriting Laura's Alpha powers – she hadn't wanted to give them up and end the Hale line permanently – he drifted. Most of the time he didn't even know what he was doing, he was just moving from one place to another, nearly out of his mind with loneliness. He probably would have fallen to Omega if Rose hadn't found him. They'd taken him in, trained him, given him a place to live until he was sane enough to buy his own place. Even after he moved out, they invited him over all the time. He played with the kids, helped them with their homework, helped Rose and Ganner keep them under control during a full moon. He still doesn't have his own pack, but he's making a life for himself out here. He has a family, a job he likes, and he's doing okay. Going back to Beacon Hills is going to be like taking a sledgehammer to the shaky foundation he's managed to build for himself.

Rose must smell his misery and self loathing, because she puts the spoon down and comes to sit beside him, a strong, supporting hand on his shoulder. “Derek, I know this is going to be hard for you.”

He makes this little noise and curls up against her, unconsciously putting his head under her jaw, nuzzling there like he's still a child in need of comfort. It's more than a little embarrassing, but the thought of going back there, facing the house and the memories – he feels like he's sixteen again, sobbing into Laura's chest, unable to explain what had actually happened.

“I don't want to.”

“Do you want Hale territory to become free for anyone to take?”

“No.” The reaction is immediate, visceral.

“Than you have to do something, and do it now. You've just turned twenty-one; you can't put it off any longer. You are, in every way, an adult, and as the Alpha of the Hale pack, you are required to reclaim your pack's territory.”

“I know.”

“It's just a month, Derek. If you leave after the full moon tomorrow, you should be able to re-establish a strong presence in the territory – enough to declare it still occupied, and then you can come back, and not have to worry about it for another year.”

“I don't – know if I can.”

“You can, and you will, because your pack is important to you. Even if it's only you right now. And you know, while you're there, you might find someone that interests you -”

“No.”

“Derek, you can't be a pack of one forever.”

“Rose, are you bothering him about turning people again?” Ganner asks, stepping through the door.

He's clearly just finished with his morning run – sweat glistens on his skin. Ganner has to be the most drastically transitioned man Derek has ever seen – and living in San Francisco and working at a porn magazine, he's seen a lot. The man is huge – only 5'10” in height, but he more than makes up for it with sheer muscle mass. Derek wouldn't want to take him in a fight, and he works out almost obsessively. The older wolf crosses the room and kisses his mate, passionate, even after more than ten years together. She brings her hands up to his ginger hair, scent marking him, and he does the same to her long black locks. He also rubs across Derek's head and down to his jaw, which comforts him more. It's a little embarrassing how much he needs the comfort.

Ganner has been like a big brother to him – he's helped Derek translate his family's book of lore, they've worked on cars together and wrestled together on the full moon. He was the one who suggested Derek try out photography, and got him set up with all his equipment. Derek had tried it out, and found he really liked the focus required, the way you have to look through a camera and see your composition, know what kinds of lenses and lights and filters to use, to imagine the shot before you take it. The fact that he had been immediately hired to work at _Heat_ helped, of course.

“I'm not bothering him. I'm just saying...”

“If he doesn't want to turn anyone, he doesn't have to.”

“I'm right here.” Derek scowls.

“Quiet, you,” Ganner says gruffly, but scratches the back of Derek's head to show that he doesn't really mean it. 

“He doesn't have to turn anyone, but I just...” Rose sighs, and rubs her face against Derek's jaw. “I don't like seeing you so lonely, Derek.”

“I'll be fine,” he insists, even though they all know he's lying.

At this point Ganner and Rose are both half on top of him, their hands rubbing along every inch of exposed skin. He is leaving in two days, and apparently they are determined to scent mark him enough to last through the month he's going to be gone. He doesn't mind.

The full moon is wilder than usual. They give him a traditional send off; every member of the pack rubs all over him, scent marking him and then surrounding him, howling at the moon together, like they are one pack. They hunt together, bringing down several deer that they all share, wild and feral and more themselves than they are any other time of year. He spends most of the night wrestling with the pack teens, chasing them and scent marking them, letting them know he isn't leaving for good.

They all end up sleeping in a pile in the woods; he's in the middle, surrounded by a dozen teens, and the pack's adults, with Rose and Ganner on the edges, guarding them all. Their pack is so large, they don't usually all stick together during the full moon, but for his send off everyone had wanted to be there for him. It's a profoundly uplifting experience. He _knows_ they all care about him – he cares about every single one of them, even the humans – but he hadn't known they felt the same way. Not in his bones, not in his blood. But his wolf can't deny this. They might not be pack officially, but they love him, and it sets his mind at ease.

He leaves the next day, while most of the pack is sleeping off the shift. Ganner and Rose give him a private send off, with hugs and a few tears. They know how hard this is going to be for him, and he appreciates the comfort, though he wouldn't have asked for it.

“We'll miss you.” Ganner says. 

“Call us, okay?”

“I will. See you in a month.” He throws his bag into the rental truck and pauses. “Don't let anyone mess with my car.”

“I'll maim anyone who even thinks about it,” Ganner says, with a smile full of teeth. Rose just shakes her head fondly.

“Your car will be fine. Let us know when you get there.”

“Stop worrying. I'll see you later.”

The drive is only three hours, but he stops for lunch about forty-five minutes away from his destination. He really, really doesn't want to do this. There was a reason he'd left Beacon Hills. So he gets a really good burger from a diner he's been to a few times, a small, mom and pop shop that does amazing things with beef. He doesn't really enjoy it though; he's already thinking ahead to what's waiting for him.

It isn't exactly a surprise that he's going back. He'd contracted a house project eight months ago, and a call to the head contractor confirms that the house is ready to be moved in to, as long as he signs the last bit of paperwork. He actually has a meeting to pick up the paperwork in an hour, so he can't stick around the diner and mope. He fully intends to stay as busy as possible during his month in exile, getting the house ready and restoring all the old pack markers, and thinking as little as possible.

He can smell it, the moment he crosses the border into Hale pack territory. The smell of fire and smoke and death. Maybe it's psychosomatic, but he doesn't think so. He's had a new house built, yes, but he'd left the old one standing as a memorial. Even though he never plans to go there – never wants to ever look at the place again – his family burned to death there. He just can't...take it down. So he pays his taxes on the place every year, and fights tooth and nail to keep the city from motioning to demolish it anyway.

When he wasn't busy being a father to a dozen children or forcing Derek to relax and have fun, Ganner was a lawyer for _Heat_. He'd originally had his own practice, but the magazine was large enough now to need a lawyer of their own full time. He'd helped Derek with all his legal matters—petitioning to build a house so close to the preserve, keeping the old Hale house from being torn down, and dealing with the aftermath of the arson investigation, which was still technically ongoing, since Derek had no desire to bring up how he knew who was responsible, or why Kate would have had any reason to burn the place down.

The contractor is waiting for him with the paperwork. It doesn't take very long, as Derek has no desire to strike up a conversation with the man. He signs the papers and cuts him his second check, with a bonus for keeping quiet about the panic rooms he's had installed under the garage and in the basement. Not that he's really planning on needing them, since he doesn't have a pack, or any humans in it that would need to go into a panic room during a full moon or other emergency, but he'd felt it important to build one anyway. This is supposed to be about starting over, and if he has to start over, he might as well do it right.

After that he calls Rose briefly, just to let her know he's all right. Well. As all right as he's going to get in Beacon Hills. Then it's time for a stop at the Sheriff's office, to get his contractor's forms signed and make sure there are no problems with his continued petition to keep the old Hale house memorial, and then he'll have to go to the town hall to have the paperwork filed. He probably could have gone straight to the town hall, but with the technically ongoing investigation of arson and all the other legal problems he's had on his property, he figures it will be best just to see the sheriff and get it over with.

Instead of a receptionist, there's a skinny, freckled kid sitting at the front desk. Derek frowns down at him. There's no way this kid works here. Even being generous with his age, he can't be more than sixteen. He probably isn't even that old. So what the hell is he doing at the front desk?

“Looking out for scowling serial killers while Mrs. Miller gets coffee, obviously,” the kid snaps at him. Because apparently he said that out loud.

“I need to file these with the sheriff,” Derek says, professionally, pretending he hadn't said anything before.

The kid's eyes narrow and he gives Derek an extremely awkward and obvious once-over. “I dunno. I don't think you really deserve to see the sheriff.”

“I don't deserve – what are you -” Derek bites off his sentence before his anger can flood over him, closing his eyes to keep from betraying the flash of angry red.

“Stiles? Is someone there?” A voice calls out from the back office.

“Nah, just some asshole.”

“Stiles!” The voice sounds strangled now, and Derek can hear the creaking of a chair, and some footsteps, before the sheriff appears, looking extremely upset at the boy.

John Stillinski was not the sheriff the last time Derek had been in Beacon Hills. He remembered the entire incident rather too vividly, and it included a memory of deputy Stillinski draping his coat around Derek's shoulders, as if that would somehow help him deal with the fact that he'd helped get his family burned alive. And from the way the sheriff is looking at the kid – Stiles – he has to be the boy's father. Derek doesn't envy him that job at all.

“Why don't you go get me some coffee, Stiles,” the sheriff is saying, in an annoyingly patient tone that makes Derek's heart ache, “and when you get back we can have a talk about your attitude.”

“He started it,” Stiles mutters, but he goes, glaring back at Derek over his shoulder as he leaves.

“Sorry about that,” The sheriff says, once Stiles was out of earshot.

“It's fine.”

The sheriff seems to take his appearance in at that point, because his eyes widen considerably. “Derek Hale? I didn't know you were back in town.”

Derek tries to keep from scowling. He doesn't think he did a very good job. “I'm just here to check up on the property and the house. I need you to sign these.”

The sheriff take the contract papers and looks them over. “I noticed the new house going up. I don't suppose you've decided to drop your injunction to keep the old place standing?”

“No.”

“That's too bad. People have been after me to try to get it torn down,” the sheriff says calmly—just passing information along, not threatening. He signs the papers absently. “It wouldn't really be a problem, but teenagers keep sneaking out there to get in trouble. We try to enforce the property as much as we can, but we can't be there twenty-four seven.”

Derek scowls at the thought of teenagers fucking in the remains of his home. Maybe it's considered too haunted for kids to screw in it, but in his experience, teenagers have sex anywhere they think they won't get caught. He did. Apparently he'll have to add chasing away kids to his growing list of chores to do while he's here. If he leaves enough of an impression it should keep them away while he's gone.

“Is there going to be trouble if I enforce my property while I'm here?”

The sheriff hands him back his papers and looks at him warily. “What exactly are you thinking?”

“Escorting them off my property. Calling you if it becomes necessary. A little intimidation,” he says gruffly. He won't throw them into trees, or anything. Well. Unless they really deserve it.

“Just don't get physical with minors, okay? I'd really rather avoid arresting you, especially since you've been good about going through the proper channels for everything.”

“I won't hurt them. Just let them know they're not welcome on my property.”

“All right, then. Well, I'll see you around?”

Derek doesn't know what to say to that, so he just shrugs, and left. He passes Stiles on the way out. The little shit is still glaring at him. Overprotective much? He bares his teeth at the teen, and gets a perverse satisfaction out of seeing him jump. Then he goes back into his rental and heads to city hall to drop off his forms.

He stands in line for an incredibly long time, before dropping off his forms with the bored receptionist, who stamps them a couple times before charging him a couple hundred dollar filing fee. Like he doesn’t pay enough fees, what with the taxes on two houses and the land, to say nothing of the permits and fees he'd paid to get the new house built. 

Still, once he's paid he doesn't have to do anything else, so he leaves and heads to his next stop – a store that seems to be something between an IKEA and Bed, Bath and Beyond. He doesn't feel like getting everything he'll need for the house – he doesn't even know what he'll need for the house, since he hasn't stopped in yet, but he picks up a bunch of blankets, some towels, a few basic kitchen items, and all natural cleaning supplies that won't bother his nose with lingering chemical scents.

After that it's late enough to get dinner, so he gets Chinese takeout from a place he seems to remember is good and heads back to his house. It's as depressing as he was afraid it was going to be. The house is clean and new, but empty. It smells like paint and raw wood and the construction crew instead of home-cooked meals and teenagers and pack. Derek practically aches with loneliness. 

The house has minimal furnishings – Derek had picked out a table and chairs, a couch, an entertainment center and a few other things out of a catalog, and paid extra to have them installed. He knows he should really clean before he does anything else, but he's tired and drained and he can taste ash in the back of his mouth, so he sits at his kitchen table, alone, and scarfs down his takeout. Then he grabs his duffel out of the rental and goes to collapse on the couch. A second duffel, with a note stuck to it, catches his eye. 

It's from Rose – she must have snuck it in the back after he put his own things in. It reads: _Thought this might help you adjust while you're gone. We're thinking about you. Call whenever you need to talk._ Inside is an assortment of clothing, all different styles and colors. The whole bag smells like home. Rose is the best. Seriously. He needs to step up his game this Mother's Day.

So instead of collapsing on the couch in misery, Derek falls asleep amongst a pile of laundry that smells like his pack. Tomorrow he'll wash all his new blankets and sheets, and make a proper bed, but for now he's content to use t-shirts as pillows and pull one of Rose's old quilts up over his head and manages to fall asleep. It's a fitful sleep, but he was expecting that. The scents of his pack keep most of the nightmares away, but honestly, he sleeps better than he thought he would.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Canon Child Abuse, angst, Derek feels, Isaac feels, dysfunctional family relationships.

Chapter 2

The next day he goes out for breakfast, since he still hasn't bought groceries yet. Then he comes home and goes on a cleaning spree that lasts the whole morning and a good part of the afternoon. He scrubs everything, replacing the scent of metal and plastic and wood with natural cleaning scents of citrus and earth and pine. Then he takes all the pack clothes and scatters them across the house, so that the place smells like pack instead of loneliness. Just for good measure he does a couple hundred push ups and crunches, until he starts to sweat, and then rubs his scent over everything he can reach.

By this time his laundry is done, and he makes a pile of blankets, clothes and quilts in his room that's at least ten inches thick, and rolls around in it. The nest making is apparently a born wolf thing, because only a few of the wolves at Rose and Ganner's do it. The rest of them sleep on beds, or sometimes mattresses on the floor. Hell, not even everyone in Derek's family had slept this way, but he always found it to be the most relaxing and comfortable, for himself and his inner wolf. When it's sufficiently saturated in scent, he even manages a short nap.

He doesn't sleep for that long, but it's nice to wake up in a pile of blankets that smell like him, with little whiffs of pack. It's not the same as home, but it's a hell of a lot better than the day before. Now that he's got the house smelling like him, he needs to get the basement finished. He couldn't ask the construction guys to install the cage he wants to put down there; not without answering a lot of questions about his sex life that he doesn't want to answer. He learned that the hard way with his house in Marin. 

So instead he had the basement walls reinforced, and he's going to buy a specialized dog cage that he ordered on the internet three nights ago and had rush delivered to the local pet store. Going there and picking it up is an experience in itself, since all the animals are terrified of him, and he's getting some pretty weird looks by the time he collects his order and leaves. He tugs on the bars discreetly once it's loaded in the rental truck. The metal groans a bit, but holds firm. It should serve its purpose nicely.

Next stop, and hopefully the last for the night, is the hardware store. He didn't exactly bring the power tools he'll need to rivet the cage to the wall securely. He's going to wire the whole thing up so it can conduct a low level current too, if he needs to. Not that he's really forseeing needing that sort of help with his control. But if he somehow ends up with an out of control Beta, or a trespassing Omega or something, it could be useful. Of course if the hunters come to his house, he's practically handing them the perfect way to torture him, which is always depressing to think about.

But Derek isn't thinking about that, or about the fact that he needs to make sure there are no hunters who have taken up residence while he was gone. After the fire, Derek had come clean to his sister about Kate – about everything. It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. Instead of setting out on some kind of revenge fueled killing spree, she'd called Chris Argent and hammered out a treaty. No one knew where Kate was currently, or so Chris had claimed. She was to never set foot on Hale territory again, or they would have free reign to exact their revenge on her. No hunters were to be in Hale territory without Hale and Argent permission – no Argent was to kill anything without irrefutable proof, and they were to report any kills directly to the Hale Alpha. If a Hale was in residence, the hunters would refer to them before killing anything.

It was a hell of a treaty, but Chris had signed it, probably more out of shame than anything else. Apparently when he found out that his sister would rape an underage boy in order to be able to burn yet more children – some of them human – alive, he decided that she was dead to him. Fitting, since if Derek ever saw her again she would be. Derek is supposed to be the one the hunters reported to, now. He doesn't want to see or smell another hunter ever again, and he really, really hopes there aren't any in town. Either way, he needs to leave a sign that the Hale territory is still defended, both against other supernatural creatures, and hunters. 

But he'll take care of that tomorrow. He can't deal with that right now. Just thinking about it makes him want to rip someone's throat out. So instead, he goes into the store and bought power tools. Derek is a master at avoidance. 

He's standing there, looking at the different types of drills and trying to decide how deep he needs the rivets to go when he caught the smell of blood. He looks around discreetly, sniffing the air. He smells it again – blood and the acrid tang of fear, and the equally unpleasant smell of misery. It's all he can do to keep from rubbing his nose against the smell.

It appears to be coming from a tall, lanky kid buying a pair of hedge trimmers. The kid's pulse is wild, and he keeps looking around like something is going to come around the corner and eat him. Another sniff – he can smell the fear sweat running down the kid's back, soaking the shirt he's got on under his drab gray hoodie. He doesn't smell like anything supernatural, just human.

Derek shrugs it off. Whatever's wrong, if it's not supernatural, it's none of his business. Another deep sniff ingrains the scent into his brain. He tells himself he's just memorizing the kid's scent in case he causes trouble on his property later, and takes his purchases up to the counter.

By the time he's done installing the cage, it's late. He goes and gets takeout, again, because he doesn't want anyone to come to the house, and he still hasn't bothered to buy groceries. Then he passes out on his bed and falls into a restless sleep.

xxx

The next morning he goes for a run across the entire perimeter of his territory. It isn't much of a run, really, since he has to stop every couple hundred of feet and clear out the old pack markers, gouging the spiral that marked his clan into various boulders and trees lining the edge of the territory. He hasn't worn a shirt, either, so he could rub himself against the markers. Between the fresh marks and his scent, his territory should be well defined. Whether supernatural creatures will respect that territory is something else entirely, but if he does this every week he was here, it should last through the year he'll be gone. The Hale territory is not up for the taking.

After his run, he changes clothes, sponges off the worst of the dirt and washes his hair in the sink. Scent is very important to him, especially since he's trying to claim his territory and scent mark his entire house. And it's not like he smells bad. Humans think he smells amazing. He tells them it's cologne, but really he just never showers.

That after noon, he learns that shopping is even less enjoyable when you're doing it alone. He needs to furnish his entire house, but instead of being fun, like it would be if Ganner and Rose and the kids were there with him, it's grueling. The local furniture store leaves a lot to be desired. Beacon Hills is big enough that they have a decent selection, but living within driving distance of San Francisco has spoiled him in terms of choice. He's already resigned himself to buying stand-in furniture, and shipping things to himself once he gets back to the city. If he's got to spend a month here every year, he'll be damned if he's going to do it with knockoff IKEA furniture.

He has excellent taste, apparently. Rose made him help her decorate the house when they put a new addition in. He picks natural furnishings; everything made from leather or wood or stone – even bamboo. The linens are all in wool, or high thread count cotton blends – towels and blankets and floor rugs; more than he'd ever need. Nice, neutral earth tones; soothing. He gets accent pieces in deep green or redwood, with a hint of yellow and a splash of sky blue. When he's done, checked out, home and gets everything set up, his house looks like a forest. Everything from the cut of the mirrors to the soothing natural lighting reminds Derek of the outdoors, and it makes him horribly, hideously lonely. His mother would love this house. He just wishes he could show it to her.

Derek lays on his couch in his perfectly furnished living room and finally breaks down. He calls Laura – they haven't spoken in years. But he can't do this; he can't be here without at least calling her. He just can't.

She picks up on the third ring. “Hello? Who is this?”

“It's me. Derek.”

There's this little gasp on the other end of the line. “Derek? How – I mean. How are you? Is something wrong?”

He wants to tell her no, he's fine. But she used to be his Alpha. She's the only family he has left. He can't lie to her.

“I'm back in Beacon Hills.”

“Oh, Derek.”

“I had to. I don't want – the territory can't go to someone else.”

“No. No of course not. Derek, I'm sorry.”

He's crying, apparently. Because this whole thing wasn't hard enough. “I'm not blaming you. I just needed to hear your voice. It's – it's so _quiet_ here.”

“Isn't your pack with you?” And it's an innocent question; it's a caring, totally valid question. But it just makes him fight back tears all the more.

“I don't have a pack.”

“You're alone? In that town, all by yourself? Derek...”

“Just – just talk to me. Please. I don't want anything from you; I don't need you to come here to make me feel better. Just talk to me. Tell me – anything. Everything. I just need to know you're okay.”

And she does, and it's like they never parted. Like Derek never slept with a hunter and got his whole family killed. Like Laura never joined another pack because she couldn't stand the pain he'd caused her. It's just them, and she was happy – so happy. He could practically see her smile. He has a niece. A niece. And he doesn't know if he'll ever get to see her, but he gives Laura his address and his email and she sends him so many pictures it uses up his data allotment for the entire month. But he doesn't care because she was pack, and she was talking to him, and it eases the pain just to hear her talk. Even when she has to go because they've been talking for three hours and her Alpha needs her, it's still so much better than the raw pain before. It's – enough, for now, to get him through.

The rest of the first week passes in a blur of chores; he sets up his post office box, landscapes his entire yard, buys the plants and does all the yard work himself, and arranges a weekly care service for all the weeks he's going to be gone. He orders books for the library. It's important to have research books here, even if he's not planning on being here more than the required month a year. He tracks down long-storage herbs for the pack magic he does know, which isn't a lot. He makes a copy of the book of pack lore they have, by hand, because it was in a secure lock box along with some of their other important documents during the fire, but it still suffered damage from the smoke and Derek just can't handle the thought of putting it through a photocopier.

After a week he breaks down and buys groceries. He despairs at the lack of most organic foods at the regular grocery store, so he only gets a few things. He's wandering the aisles aimlessly, looking for something he can actually eat, when he smells blood again. And not just any blood - this is definitely the same kid he smelled before. He sort of peeks around the meat isle and sees a mop of curly hair, an oversized, faded blue sweatshirt, and is hit with the overpowering smell of misery.

The kid is hurt - he's got a huge bruise on his face, and a cut along his jaw. There's more injuries too, probably under his sweatshirt, because the blood smell is too strong. His nails are bitten down to the quick, and they're scabbed over, like they'd been open and bleeding only a few days ago.

Something is definitely wrong with this kid. He's here doing the grocery shopping, with no sign of either parent, and his heart rate was still going through the roof. There doesn't seem to be anything after him but he's terrified.

Derek frowns. The kid is going to give himself a heart attack at this rate. He puts on his best friendly face and walks over to the kid. 

"Hey, are you alright?"

The kid whips around, startled. "What? Yeah. Yeah I'm okay. Why? I mean. Um. Wait. Aren't you - aren't you Derek Hale?"

And of course the kid would recognize him. "Yeah, I am. What's your name?"

"I'm um. My name is Isaac. Isaac Lahey. You - you used to go to school with my brother, Camden."

That name sounds familiar, though Derek had tried to block out most of his memories from back then. He's definitely a moment-to-moment kind of guy. "Yeah, I remember him. He was on the swim team, right? How is he?"

"He um. He died." Isaac says, in an almost whisper.

"Oh. I'm sorry." And he knows it's not enough, it's never enough, but he doesn't have anything else to say.

And Isaac sort of nods, like he knows that, and says awkwardly, "So did you need something, or?"

And yeah. He's standing here staring at an underage kid. Right. "You wouldn't happen to know if there is an organic foods store around would you? I never did much shopping, before."

"Yeah. There's one on 7th and Main. It's expensive tho."

"I was sort of expecting that. Thanks."

"No problem."

Isaac's heart rate has calmed while they've talked, and now it's almost normal. His heart rate starts to climb back up as soon as Derek walks away though, which makes him want to go back and just hold the kid, protect him. That thought startles him. He's already thinking of Isaac like pack. Maybe...well. He'd see how things went, and then he'd decide whether or not to offer Isaac the bite.

He finds the local organic store without too much trouble, and finds a large enough selection there to fill his fridge. A week of fast food has his stomach reminding him that he isn't really supposed to eat processed food. It's not as much of a problem for bitten wolves, but many born wolves have a problem digesting what would be classified as 'human food,' and Derek is one of them.

That night he takes the time to make a complex home cooked meal, making everything from scratch. He grinds his own spices, shreds his own cheese, cloves his garlic, and makes a loaf of wheat bread from scratch. He has an extensive garden at his Marin house, and with the mild climate he gets fresh herbs almost year round. These are the next best thing, and while it might be more expensive, being able to eat a salad without the bittersweet tang of pesticides is a relief to his stomach and his palette.

Derek finds himself making too much food - almost precisely double. He found himself thinking of bringing food to Isaac, which is ridiculous because he doesn't even know where Isaac lives. That instinct means that his wolf has already bonded to Isaac - he already considers him pack, on the subconscious level at least.

Which brings up a while bunch of other issues. Derek sits down at the table with his fresh salad, rare steak, bowl of sliced fruit, fresh, warm bread and a glass of almond milk, and thinks while he eats. He's fairly certain that Isaac is being abused on a regular basis. The level of panic, the smell of fear so strong that it was no longer a separate scent from the boy himself, and the wounds all point to it. Maybe it wouldn't be as obvious to a human, but to a werewolf it is fairly straight forward.

First things first then - find out where Isaac lives, find out if he's being abused and by who, and then he can see if the kid wants the bite. There's also the problem of Isaac being underage. He can't just kidnap the kid and run off, as much as his instincts are screaming at him to find Isaac now, keep him safe, that's just not something he should do if he plans on coming back here every year.

Ganner would know. He sends an email off explaining the situation, asking how Rose and Ganner have gotten custody of all the kids who live with them, and that he has his sights set on a potential pack member but he's fairly certain the kid is being abused and is underage. Once that's done, Derek washes the dishes and cleans his kitchen before deciding it's dark enough to go prowling for Isaac's house.

His wolf wants to track Isaac by scent, but his human side is confident there can't be very many Lahey's in Beacon Hills, so he checks the phone book. Sure enough, there's only one. Jacob Lahey, 891 Park Drive. 

Derek parks his rental truck a few blocks down, and walks silently through the suburban housing. He finds Isaac's house without even having to look for the number - he can smell the fear half a block away. Fear, and a pervasive stench of alcohol, so strong he doesn't know how the humans can't smell it. Maybe they can, and they just don't care that the man is beating his kid. To Derek it's an almost unfathomable thought. Family is everything to him. The thought of one pack member beating on another, for no other reason than to torment them - he just can't even comprehend that. And yet he knows it happens, not just in human homes but in wolf packs as well.

When he creeps close enough to look through the windows, he sees Isaac inside, cleaning. There are tears running down the teen's cheeks, and a new bruise on his jaw. He's cleaning glass off the floor; shattered dishes that must be at least a glass and a plate, maybe a bowl too. Derek's jaw tightens. He wants to run in there and take Isaac away, right now. Isaac should be hanging out with friends or doing his homework or playing videogames or something. Normal kid things. Not cleaning up the dishes his father had most likely thrown at him.

It might not be the best idea he's ever had, but he runs back to his car for paper and jots down his cellphone number, and writes, "I know how to make you strong," on it in neat, block letters. He puts it on the front porch under a rock and rings the doorbell, before darting away to lurk in the shadows. Isaac answers the door a few moments later, looking around warily before spotting the paper. He picks it up and reads it, his eyes widening. Then he pulls out his phone.

Derek books it so Isaac won't hear his phone vibrating. He doesn't want to completely scare the kid off. Though now that he thinks about it, the while thing is pretty shady. Whatever. A minute later his phone gets a text that says, **who are you?** So it worked at least, creepy or not. Hell, Isaac's probably used to creepy.

**This is Derek.**

Hale?

Yes.

There's a pause between messages, and Derek thinks he's scared the kid off. Then - **What did you mean, make me strong?**

**Meet me tomorrow at the cemetery after school, in the Hale plot. It's something I have to explain in person.**

There's an even longer pause this time. Then, finally, ten minutes later he gets an, **Okay.**

Derek lets out breath he didn't even know he was holding. Okay. He can do this, no big deal. Rose and Ganner added pups to their pack all the time. Of course those kids were usually werewolves already, and didn't have anyone who would miss them, but still. It can't be that hard, can it? He wants to protect the kid, let him finish high school without all that abuse hanging over his head. He wants to smell Isaac's natural scent under all the fear. Derek wants pack, but more importantly, he wants Isaac.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Canon child abuse, Isaac feels. 
> 
> My take on how Derek turns Isaac. Oh awkward Derek. He tries so hard.

Chapter 3 

The next day he has to go for another run, because his brain is working overtime thinking about what he's going to do with Isaac. Ganner forwarded him some law articles that he looked over, but without knowing the whole situation, Ganner can only offer general advice. Derek promised to email him more specifics when he gets them, like how old Isaac is, if he'd be comfortable living with Derek, and if he even wants to have the bite.

He pushes himself, and does two circuits of the territory in the time he did one the week before. Then he goes to the hardware store and buys a bar that he installs on the corner of his room, so he can do pull ups. He puts himself through a brutal workout, even by werewolf standards, and has just enough time to shower and change before he has to meet Isaac at the graveyard.

Derek approaches the Hale plot with caution. He isn't really expecting Isaac to have told anyone, but years of paranoia are hard to let go of. The plot looks beautiful. Someone has taken very good care of it. The entire plot is surrounded by shoulder high bushes, acting as a barrier between his family and the humans they're buried next to. The only entrance to the plot is a iron grate, inset with a pattern of wolves in all stages of life - sleeping, playing with pups, wrestling, howling at the moon. It was commissioned in happier times.

He has a key of course. The grounds keepers have the other. The grate keeps out humans, and a combination of the cold iron, the mistletoe grown in between the bushes, and the silver buried in the ground around the plot keeps out the supernatural. There are warding runes and pack magic to keep out non pack werewolves, renewed every generation since their ancestors set foot in the land.

He's a little early, so he lets himself inside. Per their instructions, the inside of the plot has been allowed to grow wild. The headstones are kept clear enough to read, and there is a clear path around the plot, but it's done tastefully do that it almost looks like an accident - a trail that could be followed through the forest to game, or something equally natural. Wild roses in at least three different colors climb across the plot, the scent of their blossoms still not enough to cover the scent of ash from Derek's nostrils.

Isaac appears before Derek can get too lost in the past. He hears the key turning in the lock and is startled when he realises Isaac must work here. He didn't really know who the ground keepers were, just that they were human and didn't know about the real reason Derek's family burned to death. Laura had taken care of that, before.

"I'm back here," he calls softly, just loud enough for the boy's human ears to hear him.

Isaac appears, his curly head of hair peeking around a rose bush. He smells frightened, but not as much as he'd been the night before. He looks around nervously, like he's afraid something is going to jump out of the bushes at him, before saying,

"H-hey Derek."

"I'm not going to hurt you, Isaac."

Isaac flinches. "You said you could make me powerful?"

"Did you do all this?" Derek asks instead, waving his hand around at all the landscaping work.

"What? Oh yeah. Yes."

"So you noticed all the wolves, then."

"Yeah. My dad um. Said it was your family crest."

"Something like that. Don't be afraid Isaac. I won't hurt you."

"What do you mea- holy shit!"

Derek lets his beta transformation consume him, and everything is sharper, more real. Including the lingering scents of fire and decay. He shakes his head violently to stay focused, and once he’s sure Isaac’s gotten a good, long look, he lets the transformation fall away.

“What – what are you?”

“I’m a werewolf. My whole family was.” Derek says, looking at his parent’s headstones.

“And you can make me one?”

The kid caught on quick. “Yes. I’m an Alpha – that means I can make other werewolves. As a werewolf, you would be stronger, faster. You’d have a pack. You won’t be alone anymore.”

Isaac’s smell actually evened out for a moment, the fear dropping away, and being replaced with a sweet scent that Derek didn’t get the chance to really pin down before it faded away. Something like flowers, freshly cut grass and puppy breath. The ever-present fear rose up and swallowed the hopeful, happy scent again and Isaac almost wilted.

“What’s the catch?”

“There are hunters.” Derek says bluntly. If Isaac is going to be part of his pack, this is a non-negotiable fact. “My family died because I let a hunter get to close to them. We have treaties now, but nothing is ever certain.”

Isaac nods, uncertain.

“For your situation, there are a few other problems. As pack, and as a newly turned werewolf, you need to live with me. I need to train you so you can stay in control in public. My home isn’t here any more – I live in San Francisco.”

Isaac shivers. “I can’t – my dad –“

“He beats you, doesn’t he.”

There was shame in the mix of Isaac’s scent now. “It’s – it’s not that bad.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Yeah.” Isaac folds in on himself until he looks about six inches shorter than he is, and the shame and the fear are strong now. “Yeah. It is. Can’t I just – can’t we just…”

“Run away?”

“Please?” The faint hope in Isaac’s voice and scent is heartbreaking.

Derek shakes his head. “I’m reestablishing my territory here. I’ll be coming back every year, I can’t risk being arrested for kidnapping. But more than that, you’ll be pack, Isaac. I’ll want you to be able to be with me. That means legally.”

“He’ll never let me go.”

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen. I’m almost seventeen.”

“I have a friend who’s a lawyer. He mentioned you could apply for emancipation. If he came up here to help you with the paperwork, would you talk to him?”

“Yes!”

“I’ll ask him to come up. Do you want the bite?”

“I-not here. Not in the graveyard. But – I could come to your house tomorrow? Once my dad goes to work.”

“That’s fine. I can send you the address.”

“I’ve got to get home before Dad wonders where I am.” Isaac’s scent spiked with fear again, “But I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m – I’m sick of being afraid all the time.”

Derek sees him out. He feels incredibly old. Isaac isn’t even his pack yet and he just wants to protect this kid. It's obvious no-one has been in his corner for a very long time. At least he agreed to the bite. Derek can go home and call Ganner and figure out a way to make this all legal, and then tomorrow Isaac will be pack. Officially.

xxx

Isaac doesn't show. He didn't text or call or anything. By the time five o'clock rolls around, Derek is officially worried. He drives to Isaac's house as fast as he can without actually breaking any traffic laws, and pulls to a screeching halt in front of the house. Mr. Lahey's car is gone but there's no sign of Isaac. Derek can smell blood, and terror so thick it makes him want to gag. He focuses his senses and then he hears it. Quick, hyperventilating breaths, whimpers, and a sound like nails scrabbling along a sidewalk.

Derek doesn't pause to consider the consequences, he just breaks down the door. He follows his senses to the basement, and tears down the stairs. There's more blood spattered on the stairs, and the junk of the basement is scattered across the floor like something was shoved into it.

There is a battered old freezer sitting innocently against the wall, but Derek knows almost instantly what's inside. He barely remembers to open the lock normally instead of ripping it off, and then he throws the lid back at the same time as he says, 

"Isaac?!"

Isaac is inside. He's huddled up in one corner, tears streaming down his face, nails broken and bleeding from scratching at the lid. One of his arms is clearly broken. His nose and split lip are leaking blood sluggishly. He's clearly panicking - breathing so fast Derek's surprised he hasn't passed out yet, unable to make real words, just a sort of terrified whine in the back of his throat.

Derek lifts him up out of the freezer by his sides, trying to be gentle, but Isaac yelps in pain anyways. He might have broken ribs; Derek can't tell, and he was never very good diagnosing human injuries anyway.

He wants to take Isaac to the hospital but it's clear Isaac isn't up to moving until he calms down. "Isaac. Isaac."

There's no response. Derek cradles him close, shielding him from harm with his body the way a good alpha would do for any of his pack. He puts one of Isaac's hands on his chest, right above his heart beat, and places his own hands on Isaac's ribs and arm, and starts leeching the pain.

"Focus on my heartbeat Isaac. You're alright. I won't let anyone hurt you."

It takes forever for Isaac to calm down. He hears the sirens and his wolf wants to get out of there - just take Isaac and go. But Isaac isn't totally calm yet - he's not ready, and Isaac is more important.

So he sits there in the floor holding him until the sheriff finds them, though he does stop taking Isaac's pain. The sheriff has his gun drawn, so Derek puts one hand up in a gesture of surrender, but he doesn't let go of Isaac.

"What's going on here Hale?"

"Isaac was supposed to come over to my house for some help with his homework. When he didn't show up I came looking for him."

"So you just decided to break the door down?"

"I heard him screaming." Derek says evenly, and looks meaningfully at the fridge.

He doesn't move while the sheriff goes over and looks inside. His face twists unpleasantly, and he looks over at Isaac, who's still crying a little, and back into the freezer. Derek can see when he puts the pieces together into one ugly whole.

"Dispatch, this is Sheriff Stillinski over at 891 Park Drive. I need a paramedic here, pronto."

"Copy that."

The sheriff looks back over at Derek. "I'm not saying you're completely in the clear here Hale, but right now I'd say it was a damn good thing you were here."

"Yes, sir."

Derek sits there with Isaac until the paramedics get there. He grudgingly hands the kid over, and then follows them upstairs and over his car to go to the ER.

"Just a minute Hale, I still need to get your statement."

"Do it at the hospital." Derek says gruffly. "He doesn't have anyone else and I'll be damned if I let his father see him."

The sheriff looks a bit ill at the thought. "Fine, but I'm following you to the hospital. We'll be sending a patrol car out for Mr. Lahey."

Derek nods, and then drives off towards the hospital, not quite fast enough to lose the tail, but fast enough that if the sheriff wanted to give him a ticket, he could. As far as Derek's concerned, he can write the ticket at the hospital.

When he gets there, he uses a combination of intimidation and his good looks to get information on where Isaac is. He's getting x-rays and then getting a cast put on, so Derek is shown to a waiting room. He calls Ganner immediately. The other wolf is only a half hour away, and he's going to make some calls and see if he can get Derek appointed as Isaac's temporary guardian. Rose and Ganner have done it several times and they know a werewolf who works in children's services. He might be able to pull some strings.

He's sitting there, waiting impatiently when the sheriff comes over to him. "Preliminary examination shows a history of abuse, so you're not a suspect."

"Good."

"I still need to know what you were doing in the house."

"I already told you."

"How do you even know Isaac?"

"I went to school with his brother Camden."

"Didn't you just get back in town s few days ago?"

"Yeah. I saw Isaac at the store. He didn't look good. I was worried about him."

"Turns out you were right to be."

Derek nods, then says, "my lawyer is in his way. I want to apply for temporary custody."

The sheriff's eyebrows rise in shock. "Really? That seems kind of drastic."

"You're arresting Mr. Lahey for child abuse, aren't you? I don't want him to have to go through the system."

Derek and Laura had been in the system for an entire month before she was able to win emancipation and custody of him. It had been awful.

"Caseworker's on her way." The sheriff said. I'll let her know you want to speak to her."

"Thank you."

Derek tells himself everything is going to be alright. This isn't going to be like his childhood, where he and Laura had no one but each other. He's going to get custody of Isaac and they're going to move to San Francisco where Isaac's dad can't hurt him ever again. 

It's going to be alright. Maybe if he says it enough, it'll even come true.

One Year Later

“Are you ever going to explain this to me?” Isaac asks him lazily. They're laying on Derek's deck in the sun, napping. Or at least, Derek's trying to nap, and Isaac is laying half on top of him, idly tracing Derek's skin with his hands and generally keeping him awake.

“Explain what to you?”

“Our...whatever this is. Relationship.”

“Does it need defining?” Derek asks, because he is all about avoidance.

Isaac sighs. “Yes, it does. We cuddle and make out, but you've never tried to, you know. Go farther.”

Yeah...he was sort of hoping they could never have this conversation. Derek and his sexuality don't really speak to each other much. At all. Having to sort through his complex feelings and figure something out is...difficult, to say the least. But he'll try, for Isaac.

“That's not something I'm really...interested in.”

Isaac arches his brow.

“I'm asexual. I guess.”

“I'm demisexual.” Isaac told him. Then, with a smile, “I guess.”

“Really?” Derek always just supposed that Isaac was gay, or bisexual. Maybe that was hypocritical, but he really hadn't ever expected to be in a relationship with someone who felt the same way. Especially another man.

“Yeah. I just never really...I mean sometimes I'm attracted to people, if I know them, if I trust them. Well, just guys. I don't really find women attractive.”

“I don't find people attractive, physically. That's not what interests me. I like you, Isaac. You make me feel...I don't know. I want to protect you.” He grips Isaac's arm and pulls him close, licking up the side of his neck.

“My wolf finds things attractive. So maybe that makes me not asexual. I don't know. I like the way you smell, and your neck, and when you submit to me. That's sexy. But regular people things just don't do it for me.”

“You think my neck is sexy?” Isaac arches his neck, leering at Derek.

His eyes flash, and he latches onto the pale expanse of Isaac's throat greedily, licking and sucking and using his teeth until Isaac's whole neck is a mass of bruises from him. They would fade, but he was the Alpha, so they'd last long enough. He could always make more.

“That's a yes then.” Isaac says breathlessly, his hips stuttering a little. He's hard, and Derek isn't.

“Isaac, I - “ He looks uncomfortably down at Isaac's erection.

“What? Oh. Um. Don't mind that. Seriously. I'm fine. You don't have to – I mean, I'm underage so we probably shouldn't anyway, and -" He takes a deep, nervous breath and lays back down on Derek, fitting comfortably against his back. “This is nice, too.”

Derek lets out breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. “It's not that I won't ever have sex with you. Once you're of age, anyway. My sexuality isn't...the only reason. I just.”

He can do this. Isaac is pack. Isaac might even be his – well, that's getting ahead of things. He can trust him; that's the important part. “When I was your age, I thought I was straight. I was supposed to like girls. And I had a lot of sex with a woman who was. A lot older than me. Laura thinks that's why I'm asexual now. But it isn't. I've always been asexual, I just – it took a while to figure it out. And it felt good while she – I was a kid. It felt good.”

Isaac is carding his hand through Derek's hair now. It's incredibly soothing. When he'd first taken Isaac away, the kid had been attention starved. Derek had held him practically every night, but now that they'd been together a while, Isaac was just as likely to comfort Derek as the other way around. He was better at it than Derek too.

“We don't have to, you know. I'll live without sex.”

Derek snorts. Teenagers practically _live_ for sex.

“I will! If you don't want to, then I don't want to. I only just started to feel safe enough around you to find you attractive anyway. It's not like I'm in a hurry. We can take as long as you need.”

Derek grunts, as Isaac's clever fingers find a knot of muscle and proceed to kneed it out. “Isn't this supposed to be the other way around? I'm supposed to be telling you this.”

“Of the two of us, I'm clearly the more practical one.” Isaac says archly.

“You are.”

“So we'll wait. And in the mean time, I expect a lot of vigorous making out. Deal?”

Derek grins. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

~Fin~

**Author's Note:**

> Many of the pack dynamics mentioned here are fairly typical fanon. I was inspired to write Raid by Kouriarashi, and also pulled some elements of pack behavior from Idyll's work _(Sacred) In the Ordinary._
> 
> Reviews are always appreciated. :3


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